


Almost is Never Enough

by BriMarie



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Nini Salazar roberts - Freeform, Ricky Bowen Loves Nini Salazar-Roberts, Secret Crush, Song Lyrics, Songfic, high school musical the musical the series - Freeform, hsmtmts, missed kisses, rickini, ricky bowen - Freeform, rini - Freeform, rini is endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26061442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriMarie/pseuds/BriMarie
Summary: The few times their kiss was interrupted and the one time it wasn't.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 10
Kudos: 54





	Almost is Never Enough

_Fifth Grade_

Nini watched in awe as she observed Big Red and Ricky doing various tricks on their skateboards that she could only dream of ever doing.

Ricky had successfully flipped over one of the fire hydrants, and Nini sprung up from her spot to applaud him. He bowed as she clapped for him.

"Ricky, that was amazing! How did you do that?"

He shrugs nonchalantly to try to appear cool. "Oh it was nothing really. All the skaters know how to do it. It's basically child's play."

Big Red tilted his head at him. "What're you talking about? You were practicing that for like two mon-

Ricky covered Red's mouth and gave him a look that said " _dude let me have this._ "

"I'm super jealous you guys can skate. I wish I could do cool moves like that too."

Ricky removed his hand from Red's mouth and wiped it on his pants when he noticed Red had licked his hand. He rolled over to her and rested his hand on her shoulder. 

"Do you wanna learn? I could totally teach you the basics if you want."

She beams. "Would you really do that for me?"

"Of course I would. You're my best friend."

Big Red scoffs loudly. "Hey, I thought I was your best friend!"

"Don't worry buddy, you're my dude best friend."

Big Red smiles content with his answer and begins practicing more tricks within the cul-de-sac.

"So you wanna start now?"

She nods eagerly. He hops off his board and places it in front of her. "Okay the first lesson is to learn how to balance on it while you're rolling."

He helps her on the board just in case it rolled away. He held her waist to secure her. "Okay now you need to begin rolling without falling, and you do that by leaning the way you want to go. Do you think you could handle that?"

She nods, and he trusted her instincts. "Alright I'm gonna give you a little push, okay?"

"Okay!"

He shoves her lightly and watches as she slowly drifts farther from him. To both of their surprise, she manages to stay balanced as she went down the sidewalk.

"Ricky, I'm doing it!"

He gives her a proud smile and a thumbs up. "You're doing great Neens!"

The victorious feeling was soon replaced with worry when he saw she wasn't paying attention to the huge pothole in front of her.

"Nini, look out!"

By the time she noticed it, it was too late. The wheel of the board got trapped in the hole causing her to fall on her face.

"Nini!"

Ricky quickly ran over to her and kneeled down to her level. "Are you okay?"

She groaned as she sat upright and faced him. "Yeah I think so."

He saw blood dripping from her knee. "Neens, your knee is bleeding!"

She looks down and makes a disgusted face when she sees the bruise that would for sure become a scar in the future. The sudden realization of the bruise made her feel the growing pain on her knee. She began tearing up.

"It hurts a lot."

He frowns when he sees her begin to cry, and he tries to find a way to make her feel better. He brought her into a hug.

Then he remembered what his mom does whenever he gets a scratch. She always said kisses were the best cure when you get bruises. Well he guesses he should give it a shot. He looked her in the eye and began blushing. 

She seemed confused by his gesture until he slowly started closing the distance between his lips and hers. He never reaches her though because Big Red ran to her side.

"Oh my god Nini, are you okay?"

She jumps away from Ricky's embrace and blushes madly. "Uh yeah kind of. I got a pretty nasty bruise on my knee though." 

"We should take you back to your house so we can put a band-aid on it."

"Y-yeah that's probably for the best." She agrees.

Ricky and Big Red helped her to her feet. Ricky let her ride on his back while Red carried Ricky's board as they went back to her house.

When Big Red was out of earshot, Nini figured she should break the awkward tension between them.

"Thanks for teaching me today even if I hurt myself."

"Uh yeah of course anytime."

"And thanks for carrying me."

"I wouldn't let you walk on a bad knee."

She smiles and hugs him from behind. When they got back to her house, her Momma C patched her up and made them a batch of cookies. Any possible tension between the pair was vanquished by the end of the night.

***

_Seventh Grade_

She felt her palms sweating with every spin the bottle in the center made. She'd always exhale loudly when the tip didn't land on her relieved she didn't have to kiss some random person at this end of summer party at her summer camp. 

She wasn't sure why she even agreed to play this stupid game. All of her friends had been raving about this seven minutes in heaven game, and she felt left out when she was the only one not excited. 

She felt like the only way to get all the hype is by playing it, and now that she's here she wants nothing more than to disappear. Luckily, they dialed it down to one minute because seven was just too long, so that made her feel a tiny bit better. She feels her friend Ashlyn tap on her shoulder.

"Nini, it's your turn to spin."

Nini gulps as she slowly reaches for the bottle. She spins it weakly compared to the rest. She hears footsteps come from the stairs and sees Ricky running towards the circle. He plops down across from her and waves at her.

Ashlyn leaned next to her ear. "How funny would it be if it ended up landing on Ricky?"

She laughs awkwardly. "Yeah...funny."

Finally, the bottle stopped spinning. She was afraid to look at where it landed. She followed the tip and felt her face heat up when she saw who it landed on. 

Of course it had to be Ricky. Just her luck.

Everyone else in the circle began giggling at them, and she couldn't help but feel her anxiety rise. 

He got up and motioned for her to follow him to the closet. He looked surprisingly really chill with this and she didn't know what to think of that.

"You have a minute before we come check on you guys." 

She trailed behind him as they entered the tiny closet that definitely didn't allow much room for two people. 

There was no light switch in there, and the only light they got was from under the door. She was actually pretty thankful for that because he would've seen how red her face was, however they could still see parts of their faces.

"So..." 

"So."

"Um what's been new with you?" She tries her best to avoid the elephant in the room.

He grabs her hand. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. We can just lie and say we did if that'll make you feel more comfortable."

She feels a weight being lifted off of her shoulder. "For real?"

"I'd hate for you to do something you don't want to do Neens, especially something as big as a first kiss."

She smiles up at him. He was truly such a sweetheart; she's glad to call him her best friend. She wraps her arms around his torso. 

"You're the best."

He rested his head on top of hers as he hugged her back. As she held him in her arms, she started to think. Would him being her first kiss be so bad? I mean she has always wanted her first kiss to be memorable with someone she'd never regret giving it to.

She's not sure when it's gonna happen or to who, and it's not like she's getting any younger. The more she pondered on it, the more she realized that maybe kissing him wasn't that bad of an idea.

She lifted her head off of his chest and looked him in the eyes. She must've been making an odd face because he gave her a worried look. 

"What's up?"

She thought about chickening out, but a wave of courage washed over her. "I um was thinking that maybe we could you know..."

"Kiss?"

She nodded. "Yeah that."

"Are you sure?"

"Only if you want to. I know it'd be your first kiss too."

He looks off into space for a second before smiling. "Let's do it."

They both stared at each other not sure what exactly to do next. She figured one of them had to be the first to lean in, so she inched her face closer to his while he did the same.

Right when her lips were about to touch his, the closet door opened. They swiftly emerged out of each other's arms and squinted their eyes at the sudden light in their faces.

"Times up!"

Nini took one look at him and blushed. She couldn't believe she almost kissed her longtime best friend. Maybe he wasn't supposed to be the one. They both walked out of the closet and sat back down in their spots.

Ashlyn nudged her with a smirk on her face. "How was it? You look all rosy."

"I'll definitely remember it." She figured a white lie wouldn't hurt anybody. She glanced over at Ricky to see that he had already been looking at her. 

He smiled at her, and she did the same. She feels her heart beat quicker than usual. And she couldn't help but wonder what would've happened had they had 10 more seconds.

***

_Freshman Year_

Nini wasn't bitter she was just...annoyed.

It was homecoming season, and it seemed like everyone in the entire school had found a date except for her. 

Her friends kept talking about how excited they were to spend their first homecoming together and how they already had matching outfits with their dates. She had to admit that she wasn't a big fan of hearing about it when she didn't even plan on going.

She had no intentions on being the only dateless one. She knew her friends would try to make her feel less alone if she went, which in result would make her feel even more lonely.

As the day of the dance began to come closer, her annoyance for people talking about the dance got higher. It had gotten to the point where her friends were afraid of bringing it up around her unless she did.

Exactly a week before the dance, she had been working on a scene for a play in her house when she heard someone ring her doorbell. She opened the door to see Ricky with his award winning smile and a covered dish in his hands.

"Hey Neens, my mom made some brownies and there's no way in hell that I could finish this all by myself."

"Well who am I to reject free baked goods?"

She held the door wider for him as he entered. He placed the dish on the counter and hopped up on it.

"So whatcha doiiinngg?"

"Working on my scene for my theater class. I've been procrastinating it for far too long."

"Boo that's boring; let's do something fun."

"I can't. This'll take a good while to read through, so you'd have to wait before we can chill."

"Orrrr I could help you rehearse it after we hang out?"

"Was everyone else busy today or something? Because you'd have to be really bored to help me with a scene."

"I really only wanted to hang out with you."

She blushed as she read through her script. She sighed, "Alright fine. What did you have in mind?"

"Well I was thinking we could bake some brownies."

She gives him a questioning look. "Wait but I thought you already brought brownies."

"Oh about that, I lied since I knew you'd reject me at the door if I came empty handed. That's why there's a cover on it."

"You cunning little bastard!"

He doesn’t look apologetic in the slightest. "It's the Slytherin in me."

She rolled her eyes as she walked to the pantry. "Alright help me take out the ingredients."

She ends up being grateful that he did lie to her because it took her mind off the stress of homecoming and the upcoming play for a good hour and a half. Plus, she loves baking with him because it's always a good time.

As promised, he did help her with the scene. They read through her lines as they sat on the piano seat. She had completely forgotten the scene she was doing was related to her character going to homecoming and groaned.

She rested her elbows on the keys making a loud noise that startled Ricky. "You good there Neens?"

She shook her head. "I'm so sick and tired of hearing about homecoming. I swear I can't escape it nowadays. It's always homecoming this or homecoming that. Ugh I can't wait for Saturday to come just so people will shut up about it."

He set the script aside. "Why do you hate homecoming so much?"

She got in defensive mode. "I do not hate homecoming; it's just that I'm sick of hearing about everyone's dates and crap."

He smugly looked at her, and she already knew what was going through his mind. "Don't you say it."

"Awe Neens, you're upset because you didn't get asked aren't you?"

"Am not!"

"You totally are."

"I'm not upset!"

"Your British accent just came out, which means that's a lie."

She rolled her eyes and got up from her spot. "I don't have to deal with these false accusations."

"Woah woah woah, calm down. I was just kidding; I'm sorry." He pulled her down back to the stool, and she folded her arms still a bit angry with him.

"Whatever, let's just get back to the script."

She snatched the script from the top of the piano and began reading through it, but Ricky could tell there was something actually bothering her. He put his hand on her thigh.

"Neens, what's actually wrong?"

"It's nothing. Let's just get back to work."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong."

She titled her head back and sighed. She lightly trailed her fingers on the keys trying to work up the courage to tell him.

"You're right."

"Right about what?"

"I'm upset I wasn't asked."

"But I thought you didn't want to go to homecoming."

She finally faced him. "Are you kidding? Of course I wanna go to homecoming. Every freshman wants to go to homecoming since it's their first high school dance."

"Then why aren't you going?"

"Because I don't wanna be the only one without a date!"

A silence falls upon them and neither really know what to say about her confession. He begins to play the piano.

"Ni-Ni, Ni-Ni, Ni-Ni, Ni. Do you wanna go to the dance with me?" He sings.

She looks at him in incredulity. "You wanna take me to the dance?"

"Yeah why not? Spending a whole night with my best friend while we dance to pop songs actually sounds like a lot of fun. We can even do the whole matching thing if you want."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but don't make it too formal. We both know I'm not a fan."

She wraps her arms around his neck. "Deal."

He pulled her closer loving that she was happy again. They leisurely remove their arms from one another, but they stop when they notice how close their faces were. She's not sure who leaned in first, but it didn't seem to matter.

She placed a palm on his cheek and both closed their eyes. Suddenly the front door sprung open causing them to slide as far away as possible from each other. In came both of her moms with grocery bags.

"Hey sweetie, I didn't know you were gonna have Ricky over. I would've gotten more food!" Momma D says.

"Oh no worries. I was gonna go home for dinner, so I wasn't gonna stay much longer anyways."

Momma C pokes out her lip. "Oh what a shame! We love having you."

He got up from his seat and looked over at Nini. Her face was as crimson as his own. "I will see you at school then. Good luck with your script and let me know what colors to wear for homecoming."

"Will do." She gave him an awkward mock salute that she internally yelled at herself for.

"Nice seeing you moms. Bye Neens." He quickly made his way out of the door. 

Her moms both gave her stunned expression. "Since when were you going to homecoming and with Ricky of all people?!" Momma C asks.

"Since like five minutes ago."

Momma D gasps. "Oh my god! Are you two finally gonna start dating? We've been waiting for this day forever!" 

Nini blushes. "No, we're not dating!"

"Your red face says otherwise." Momma D teased.

"Ugh you guys are annoying. I'm going to my room." 

She hears her moms both giggle under their breath as they talk about her and Ricky's relationship. As much as she wanted to be annoyed with them and say dating him would be weird, she couldn't help but wonder a little what it'd be like to be his.

***

_Junior Year_

Today had been a big day for Ricky since he was competing in a skating competition. Nini didn't know much about skating, but she loved showing up for him no matter what.

Only she and Big Red had gone to support him since he didn't want that big of a crowd. He was shy when it came to performing in front of too many people he knew. She had been standing beside him as he got geared up for the event.

"Are you ready?"

"Kind of."

"That's not winner talk."

"I don't play to win. I play to have fun."

"Hmm sounds like a lot of hoopla, but yeah okay play the humble card."

"Okay maybe I am playing to win just a little bit."

"That sounds about right."

They hear the coordinator call out for all the skaters to get in position.

"That's my cue. Wish me luck."

"Luck!”

He gave her a quick hug, and to her surprise a peck on the cheek.

He ran over to his spot leaving her bewildered. She grazed the area he kissed and started blushing. During the duration of the competition, she couldn't force herself to focus. She kept stroking the area he placed his lips on, and she couldn't stop thinking of why he did that.

The judges finally finish up tallying the scores and reveal that Ricky had gotten second, which was impressive for his age range apparently. She wouldn't know, but she does know she's proud of him.

She meets him right outside the changing room and jumps up on him in a bone crushing hug. 

"I'm so proud of you for winning!"

"Thanks, but I got second."

"I know. But I'm still so proud of you for getting silver, so I consider it a win. Next year, you'll get gold for sure. I can't wait to witness it."

"I can't wait to celebrate with you."

She pulls away from him and smiles. She sees a weird expression in his eyes that she wasn't familiar with. She doesn't miss him eyeing her lips. He strokes the same spot he kissed earlier, and she wondered if he did that on purpose. 

He presses his forehead on hers and closes his eyes. "Neens, you know I think the world of you right?"

She has no idea why he's saying this, but she doesn't mind. "I do, but why’re you bringing this up now?”

He shrugs. “No reason. I just wanted to remind you.”

He caresses the spot again and trails his thumb to her bottom lip. She’s completely under his spell and didn’t mind it one bit. He began bringing her lips closer to his, and she was yearning for him to close the gap.

Suddenly, a group of competitors barged out of the door they were standing by ruining their moment. One of the skaters walked up to them.

“Yo Ricky, some kid named Big Red is looking for you and your girlfriend.”

They both turned red when he referred to her as his girlfriend. Ricky forms a fake smile. “Thanks man. We’ll be right out.” He says with a hint of annoyance.

She lets go of him suddenly feeling reserved around him. “Um we should probably go find him before he thinks we abandoned him.” 

He looks vaguely miffed by them being interrupted. “Yeah let’s go.”

That night, she knew that something had drastically changed in their relationship.

***

_Senior Year_

Graduation had finally come, and boy were Ricky and Nini relieved those four years were finally over. It’s not like they had a bunch of bad experiences, but any grad would admit that graduating is extremely satisfying and almost freeing.

Ricky and Nini decided to have a joint graduation party since they loved doing everything together and because they didn’t have time to squeeze in two separate ones without a scheduling conflict.

They both were on a tight schedule since they planned on spending their summer traveling to places on both of their bucket list. 

They’ve been planning this trip since their freshman year and have it completely set up. Both were extremely excited and were heading out in a week.

While everyone partied in Nini’s house, Ricky and Nini had been chilling in her treehouse to take a moment to breathe since neither of them have had a free second since they woke up this morning.

They sat together hip to hip, hand in hand, dangling their feet off of the edge. 

“Do you think we’ll always be close?” She asks out of the blue.

He looks at her almost appalled by the question. “Of course we will! We’ve been close for 13 years, and I definitely don’t plan on letting you go even if we’re going to different colleges.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear you haven’t gotten sick of me yet.”

“Oh please, like I’d ever get sick of you. If anything, you’re the one who should be sick of me. I’m the one who got us in trouble or was the reason you got a bruise due to my careless nature.”

She laughed as she remembered some moments where he had gotten them called to the principals office, yelled at by her moms, and she still had the scar from 5th grade when she fell off the skateboard.

“I guess you’re right about that, but my life would be so boring without your stupid mistakes.”

“What made you ask that though?”

She sighed. “It’s just you hear so many stories of people drifting apart after high school, and I fear that I’m gonna lose my bond with people I’ve been friends with for years now. And sure losing some friends is a scary thought, but losing you literally terrifies me.”

He wrapped his arm around and laid his head on hers. “You’re not gonna lose me babe. I’m here to stay for a very long time. I already said I’d make the drive to Colorado every weekend anyways, and you know why?”

She looked up at him not registering just how dangerously close she was to his lips. “Why?”

“Because I can’t stand to be away from you. That’s why I know for a fact that we will stay together forever, so don’t you dare doubt that again.”

She felt reassured after his mini speech and grinned. “Yeah you’re right. I was foolish for thinking we’d drift apart when we are basically glued together.”

He smiled and reached down to kiss her cheek, but she accidentally shifted her head and he ended up kissing her lips. He immediately pulled away as blood rushed to his face.

“I’m sorry Neens! I was aiming for your cheek I swear!”

She giggled giddily. “Oh it’s okay, that’s my fault.”

Neither really appeared to be that sorry about the kiss though as they tried to read the others mind. 

“Um actually...can I try that again?”

She nods a bit too avidly, but she doesn’t care because she’s been fantasizing about this moment for years. 

He cups her face and closed the space between them. She pushed her lips firmly against his melting into the kiss. It was everything she ever imagined and more, and holy fuck she can’t believe she went a full 18 years of life without being kissed by Ricky Bowen.

You can bet she’ll ensure she’d be doing this as often as possible. He deepens the kiss and licks the bottom of her lip. She gripped his shirt to pull him closer because she craved his lips. He smirked against her lips when she moaned. 

They lost track of time as they continued to collide their lips not wanting to stop at all. They were in a desperate need of making up for all the pent up tension from youth til now. He ends up being the one to break the kiss, but it was only because he needed oxygen.

“That was...wow just wow.”

She beamed. “Stole the words out of my mouth.”

“I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time.”

“Me too. It was ten times better than I imagined.”

“Nini, I’ve probably wanted to be with you since I saw you on that swing set in kindergarten.”

She cupped his face with both hands. “I’ve known since I fell off your skateboard.”

“So we really have been pining for each other our entire childhood?” He chuckled.

She joined in on his laughter. “It seems like it.”

She brings him into another mind blowing kiss. She didn’t regret that she’s waited this long to get the guy because in this treehouse sitting close to the stars in the arms of the man she treasures, she realizes he was worth the wait.

She was completely his, and she’d never get enough of him.

***

_You will never be too much or too enough for the right person._

**Author's Note:**

> I felt like I owed y'all a fluff after the hella angst I made. 
> 
> I ordered the Rini book that's coming out on Oct 27, and you know your girl is gonna be writing a bunch of stories based off of the ones in the book. Super excited about that. 
> 
> Also, I'll be posting the mini sequel to the Wedding Date next :)
> 
> Quote is from Malia Auri


End file.
